Sunday, February 18, 2007

Judge the album cover

It's a special judge the album cover this week. Special because because this week is"1970's week"so both covers are from that decade and special because there are two covers to judge this week. So here is cover A which is Bandolier by Budgie.

18 Comments:

Being a Canadian and a fan of old school hard rock/ heavy metal, it's probably doubly blasphemous to say this but... Rush is one of the FEW bands I just can't tolerate at all. However, I'll give them credit here. Their owl certainly kicks Budgie's ass. The owl is simple and menacing at the same time, the Budgie album looks like the cover of a fantasy book you'd find in a bargain bin at a used book store. The only good thing about the Budgie cover is their logo- looks like a cross between Arabic and bong smoke. Cool.

Neither one of these are the 'greatest' in my opinion, but I have to cut them some slack in lieu of the era... Out of the two I guess I like Budgie's best, even though the 'budgie heads' don't seem to fit--I still like the surrealistic overtones of the entire piece.

The detail on the Fly By Night album is 'ok', but I think both could've had better art work done for their albums.

I vote for Budgie, as that cover captures the cool-yet-loopy vibe that was their bread and butter. I mean, listen to the stomping masterpiece that is "Napoleon Bona-Part 1 & 2" and try not to envision majestic warrior budgies on horseback...it can't be done.

Regarding Fly By Night, the owl doesn't really represent anything from the album. The title track is a simple rumination on upping stakes and leaving home, with nary an owl reference to be had. To me, this cover misses an opportunity to depict "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" visually--now that would be an album cover.

Being a Planet of the apes fan, I like Budgie cover because it's a play on that. I like the colors and the background too. The logo should have bigger and more distinct though. I like the Rush cover, but not as much. I like the background a bit, but the owl might be a little too simple.

The budgie cover is kind of cheesy but I like it for some reason. It has that low budge 70s album cover look to it.

The Rush cover is cool. Rush has always had good album covers and packaging. My favorite would have to be A Farewell to Kings or Moving Pictures. Signals was probably the worst cover although the music inside is good.

birds of a feather, I see... Budgie's Planet of the Parrots cover appeals to me as a lover of surreal art, and Fly By Night is simplistic yet detailed and sort of indicative of a lot of rock album covers of the 70s. Budgie gets the edge for its originality

Man, I love those Budgie covers! First of all, they buck the emrging metal trend and name themselves after a decidedly non-threatening little bird,and then they go ahead and use that little bird as a mascot in a heroic and utterly inappropriate way that totally makes me grin. As another commentator points out, it captures their musical vibe too. Budgie are so cool. Gotta get the new album!

The Rush cover is okay, I guess...it's distinctive and memorable. Just doesn't make me grin! But I suppose that's fair enough - Rush have never been a humorous band, anyway.

I like the Budgie cover. I feel it makes a statement, It might be a fantasy/sc-fi statement that's cheesy, but a statement all the same. The painting/drawing is in a style I like too. Blends well together.

Rush's is nice too. I like the paws on the owl and having it stare right at you is a little unsettling. I still like Budgie better.

"So, in closing, fuck you METAL MARK. Fuck you, fuck Lynch Mob, and fuck your shitty website!”
“I don't know who this METAL MARK is, but I know better than to waste my time checking out anything else written by this asshole”
-Mike